Hello,
I've got an 89 GMC, 2wd, LWB, 5.7L with 75,000 miles on it. My Dad bought it new, and he didn't drive a lot, so it's low miles for its age, has had an easy life and been maintained, but its still a 23 year old vehicle.
Here's the problem: I can turn the steering wheel so far to the left that it allows the idler arm to cross over to the wrong side. This leaves me with both front tires pointing inward, to the point that the truck can not move. To correct, I have to jack the truck up and use a big hammer to knock the idler arm back over to the correct side. Maybe another way of describing this is to say that if the travel arc the idler arm makes should always be in the top half of the semi circle, then it now has enough movement in it that it crosses over and travels in the bottom half of the semi circle. This happens when turning left, and is more prone to happening while backing up. I did see that my idler arm had a lot of slop in it, so I replaced. This did not correct the problem. My brother replaced the pitman arm for my Dad about 4 years ago. That arm has less than 10,000 miles on it. I've looked under the truck with somebody rocking the steering wheel....I do see just a tiny bit of slop at the point where the pitman arm meets the center link, but it's not much. I can't see anything broke, bent, or missing. I'm really stumped. What limits the steering travel on this truck? I don't see a physical bumpstop. Is the steering radius limited inside the steering gear box? Could something be out of adjustment in the steering gear box that is allowing the wheels to turn too far to the left?
I appreciate any words of wisdom you can lay on me.
Thanks.
John
I've got an 89 GMC, 2wd, LWB, 5.7L with 75,000 miles on it. My Dad bought it new, and he didn't drive a lot, so it's low miles for its age, has had an easy life and been maintained, but its still a 23 year old vehicle.
Here's the problem: I can turn the steering wheel so far to the left that it allows the idler arm to cross over to the wrong side. This leaves me with both front tires pointing inward, to the point that the truck can not move. To correct, I have to jack the truck up and use a big hammer to knock the idler arm back over to the correct side. Maybe another way of describing this is to say that if the travel arc the idler arm makes should always be in the top half of the semi circle, then it now has enough movement in it that it crosses over and travels in the bottom half of the semi circle. This happens when turning left, and is more prone to happening while backing up. I did see that my idler arm had a lot of slop in it, so I replaced. This did not correct the problem. My brother replaced the pitman arm for my Dad about 4 years ago. That arm has less than 10,000 miles on it. I've looked under the truck with somebody rocking the steering wheel....I do see just a tiny bit of slop at the point where the pitman arm meets the center link, but it's not much. I can't see anything broke, bent, or missing. I'm really stumped. What limits the steering travel on this truck? I don't see a physical bumpstop. Is the steering radius limited inside the steering gear box? Could something be out of adjustment in the steering gear box that is allowing the wheels to turn too far to the left?
I appreciate any words of wisdom you can lay on me.
Thanks.
John